Burglar alarm



p 1941'. A. o. VINZ 2,255,603

BURGLAR ALARM Filed April 26, 1939 44 v ALFRED 0. l INZ IN VENT OR.

H15 ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 9, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to devices designed to be applied to closures that might be subject to attempts of unauthorized opening and which could be protected by a suitable alarm to sound on any such attempt.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide an alarm that requires the least amount of attention.-

Another object is to provide an alarm that will remain in its inoperative condition as long as the closure to which the alarm is applied is in a protecting position to which it has been brought by any authorized party; while the alarm will sound whenever the closure is moved away from such protecting position.

Another object is to provide means by which the alarm may be locked in operative condition by any authorized party.

Another object is to provide a safety-keyoperated mechanism for locking the alarm in inoperative condition.

Another object is to provide means whereby the manual locking means may be unlocked by the key-operated mechanism.

Another object is to provide means by which to make the alarm applicable to closures such as doors.

Other objects will appear from the following description and appended claim as well as from the accompanying drawing, in which- Fig. 1 is a front elevation of an alarm separate from any closure, merely illustrating the plain and inconspicuousness of the outer appearance of the alarm.

Fig. 2 is a rear view of the alarm, a portion of the casing being broken away.

Fig. 3 is a detail side view of a position controlling member.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary section through the escapement control as seen from the front when some of the parts are broken away.

Fig. 5 is a similar view as Fig. 2, the parts being shown in locked position.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary detail section of parts on line 6-6 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 7 shows the alarm applied to a portion of a door with a safety key control added to the alarm.

Doors, windows, and other closures lend themselves easily to properly applied burglar alarms.

Bell-alarms, such as illustrated in Figs. 1 and '7, are frequently made to be operative by coilsprings, and such springs are commonly wound by means of the bell, such as indicated at II, which, in such a case, may be mounted on a shaft that controls the winding of the spring; but it should be understood that this invention is not limited to any particular actuating means and no showing is made therefore, it bein just as easy to install a small electric, or other motor, depending more on local requirements or selection. 7

From any such motor, or force gears, such as indicated at I2 and I3, may readily receive required movements so as to transmit such movements to the escapement I4 and to the bellhammer I5.

It then remains only to hold the bell-hammer against movements for any time that any closure to which this device may have been applied is not being manipulated improperly or by any unauthorized person.

As illustrated in Figs. 4 and 6, the bell-hammer bar I6 is blocked by a cam-like portion I! of a spring I8, one end of the spring being secured to the frame of the device as indicated at I9.

The spring may easily be lifted by the shiftable pin 20 to an extent to bring the cam-portion I! to a point above the bell-hammer-bar I6 so that the bell-hammer may swing freely.

For actuating the shiftable pin 20 a plate 2I is provided with a depressed portion 22 that may be moved over the pin in such a manner that the pin will act on the spring l8 for the release of the bell-hammer I5 as set forth above.

The plate 2| forms an important part of this invention, to a large extent controlling the whole device, being pivotally mounted at 23, and having a trigger-portion 25 extending outwardly of the housing 26, the plate 2| being under the tension of a strong spring 24 of which one end is engaged with the housing at 21 while the other end is engaged with a pin, or lug, 28 on the plate 2|, the center of the spring being placed about the central pivot 23.

Under these conditions, the plate will always have the tendency to draw towards the position in which it is illustrated in Fig. 2.

The housing 26, however, is provided with a slot 29 that provides for a certain limit ed movement of the plate 2|, as when lifted by the resistor prong 36, which may be provided on a door jam, or at any suitable point near wherever such a device is mounted.

Inasmuch as the plate 2I will automatically resume the position in which it is illustrated, the movement of the plate bringing it to such position is utilized to bring the portion 22 to a point over the pin 20 for releasing the bell-hammer I5 for any alarm.

At any other time, the plate 2| must then naturally be set, or locked, in a position away from the pin-engagement, which we will therefore call the inoperative position.

A locking, or setting, may be accomplished in diiferent ways, in this case, a key-controlled locking being illustrated besides a manually controlled latch.

For setting the plate manually, the plate is provided with a projection end 3| over which the latch 32 may be hooked as indicated in Fig. 5; while the latch may be moved out of engagement to allow the end 3| to pass unobstructed to the position illustrated in Fig. 2.

For setting the plate 2! by means of the keycontrolled setting means, the lug of the key controlled device can be turned to the position indicated at 33 in Fig. 2, in which position the edge 34 of the plate 2| will be forced over to that extent so that the plate must assume the position in which it is illustrated in Fig. 5; while,

when the lug of the key-controlled device is turned to the position indicated at 33a in Fig. 5, the plate may return to the position in which it is illustrated in Fig. 2.

Theke'y-controlled lug 33 may also beused for disengaging the latch 32 from the end 3! of the plate, which is very useful in cases where this device is applied to a door, since the'alarm' may have been locked from the insideQfor one reason, to prevent a ringing of the alarm while the house was occupied; or, for another reason, to allow a person to open the door while going towards the outside without having the alarm ring. ,7

The plateis then simply set. The person passes to the outside, to then unlatch the plate by means of the key-control, to make the alarm ready for any emergency.

While the door is closed, the trigger may rest on the prong that is on the door jamb, but if any unauthorized person would attempt to open the door, as soon as the trigger moves far enough that it slips from the prong, the plate has automatically turned sufiiciently to sound the alarm by lifting the pin and spring l3 to thereby free the bell-hammer-bar It for the alarm.

Of course, a key-control is not absolutely necessary, since the latch may be set and only unsnapped just short before the door is fullyclosed, though the alarm may sound then for a short moment until the door is fully locked or closed. Fig. 7 illustrates the key-control at from the outside, while the alarm is at the inside.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

In aburglar alarm, an alarm mechanism to sound upon unauthorized opening of a closure to which the alarm is attached, a plate in operative relation to the mechanism pivotally mounted in the alarm with one end protruding from the alarm in form of a trigger and the opposite end being provided with a control edge within the contours of the alarm, a key-controlled device in operative relation to said control edge and tiltable so as to engage the edge whereby theplate may beheld in inoperative position, a latch for setting 'the plate in such inoperative position and disposed so that thelatch may be moved away from such latching position by operation of the key-controlled device, and means inoper ative contact with the plate for holding the alarm mechanism in inoperativep'osition while the'plateis in'inoperative position. 7 v r ALFRED O. VINZ; 

